Safety for the Soul

We just had an amazing week, with the highlight being the baptism! Sister Deng, Sister Chen, jun jie (jay), and two of the sister's investigators were all baptized Saturday night!  The service was incredible and the ward was so supportive! After the baptism Sister Chen bore a powerful testimony of faith and how it has played a role in her conversion process. Her daughter was baptized about a year and a half ago and is a great member, Sister Chen supported her but never wanted to join because of the Buddhist traditions of her family.  But about a month and a half ago we went over to their house and she said something changed, she started to believe and began to pray.  Her testimony of the power of prayer is incredible and has had many wonderful experiences with it! We love her!

Sister Deng came to us last Monday with some questions brought up to her by a friend and became very nervous for the baptism.  She wasn't very sure about it and pretty stressed.  We talked through the problems and she realized the problems weren't actually problems.  In the lesson my thoughts kept referring back to a talk by Elder Ronald A. Rasband a couple conferences ago.  He talks about us needing to remember the powerful spiritual experiences we have had in the past, to build our testimony.  I bore my testimony and told her she knew this was true,she knew that God was there, Jesus Christ was her Savior, She just needed to remember why and the experiences that backed up her faith. The experiences that brought her to the decision of being baptized. She is sooo awesome and she was baptized and has a stronger testimony because of this!!

I love this Gospel and the role it plays in my life.  As I have seen it change other peoples lives, my faith has been strengthened.  My relationship with our Heavenly Father, and our Savior Jesus Christ has been strengthened through the experiences I have had out here. And I will always remember them! I love you all and am so grateful for all your love and support!

Love

Elder Henderson :)

The Gardener

Hello Everyone! Hope you had a good week, We sure did!  To start off, Sister Deng and Sister Chen both passed their baptismal interviews and are ready for this next saturday the 24th!! It has been amazing to see their growth in the gospel and their faith!

This week rained sooo hard and it was honestly pretty tough contacting because of it, so we ended up tracting a lot!  The Brother Huang that I told the story about last week is still progressing a ton! We shared the word of wisdom this week and he has been working hard to follow it, and the best thing ever is that he brought his wife and two kids to a ward activity this week!! He is really trying to be a great example to his family of how this gospel changes people for the better!

This week I studied a talk given by an apostle named Hugh B. Brown along time ago about a currant bush.  He tells the story of when he was younger he lived on a farm in Canada, One day out in the garden he pruned a big currant bush that had been growing a lot but out of control.  As he did so, he said he felt as if the currant bush was talking to him.  "why would you do this to me? I was making such great growth and you cut me down!" He said in his my he responded "Look little currant bush,  I know what i want you to be, i am the gardener here and I know what is best for you."  He later tells of a challenge he went through where he was denied of a high ranking in the Canadian army, at first he was crushed and was very angry that this would happen to him. But then the spirit reminded him of the words he spoke before, "I am the Gardener here, I know what I want you to be."  Elder Hugh B. Brown's story gives me courage and faith to know that everything in life happens for a reason.  At first you may not understand the challenges and "pruning" so to speak, the Heavenly Father gives you.  But He really is the gardener here, he knows what is best for each of us and has created a perfect plan to help us become who we are supposed to become.

Elder D. Todd Christopherson told this same story a couple years ago in General Conference and invited us to "Pray for his loved inspired corrections."  I know that God loves us and he wants what is best for us! As we seek his help, guidance, and pruning, we can become the people he wants us to be.  I love this gospel and the opportunity it gives me to develop a relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know the corrections from the Lord we receive are not always easy, but they are for our benefit and growth.

I love you all!! Have a great week!!

Elder Henderson

 Elder Henderson Said He has only warn Crocs this week because of the rain!!

"His Grace is Sufficient"

Hello!!! We have had an amazing last week!! Starting off with the good Sister Deng! We met her two or three weeks ago at a McDonalds and she has just progressed so fast, she absolutely loves church and the gospel! She is going to be getting  baptized on the 24th of this month, along with Sister Chen who we have been teaching the last little bit, and an 8 year old boy we have been teaching! The Lord has been so merciful to us and we have seen so many miracles lately!  Sister Xu is supposed to get baptized with them but has had some surgical complications and has been very sick lately.  She had surgery about 6 months ago and was bedridden for about 4.5 months.  The first day she left her house was the day we met her! We hope that she can get better soon!

Once again it rained a ton this week.  Friday night it rained soooo hard and I forgot my rain gear haha so I had to just push through! We got to dinner and I was so wet, that i went into the bathroom, took off my pants and rung them out like a rag hahah it was pretty funny.

About a month and a half ago we were riding down a street at about 8 pm looking for a members house, when we ran into a man who was out in front of an apartment complex.  We started talking to him and he said one of his friends son was a missionary like us in Germany! It shocked us a little and didn't really know if it was from our church.  He told us He had been going to a Presbyterian church for a couple years and didn't have a ton of interest in learning about our church.  He said "Ohh maybe next weeek you can stop by." (Not very promising). But we felt something special about him.  So about a week later we came back and tracted the entire apartment complex we thought he lived in. 5 stories and did not find him.  That night we ran out of time and said we'd come back and tract the apartment complex next door later to see if he lived there.  About a week after that we went back and tracted the other building, we got through all five floors and didn't find him, until we were at the VERY last door of the second apartment complex.  And our friend, Brother Huang answered the door.  It shocked us so bad, i was so touched at the Grace of God. He allowed us TO FIND HIM.  We talked for a minute and gave him a Book of Mormon, He said if he had time he would read it. For a couple weeks we didn't really here anything Then, about two weeks ago we called him up and invited him to church, and he came!! He really liked it! He said his family has been struggling a lot lately (Him, his wife, 13 year old daughter and 9 year old son) and wants a religion that can bring them together.  We started meeting with him last week, and even before the first meet he had been reading the Book of Mormon to his children! It turns out the friend really was a missionary from our church and he now has a friend encouraging him to meet with us! He is an amazing man and I know the Lord has prepared him! He is set to be baptized in July!

This week i studied a talk by Brad Wilcox about the grace of God.  It is through the GRACE of God that we are saved. Grace is the reason we have second chances, and why we can return to our Heavenly Father! I am so grateful for the Grace the Lord and our Heavenly Father have for us! I loved this quote by him:

"Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved some where down the road. It is received right here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher's touch."  Brad Wilcox "His Grace is Sufficient"

Love you all!

Elder Henderson

HELLO DIXIONG JIEMEIMEN!

Hope everyone had a good week! I sure did!!  It has been nonstop raining for the last 3 days and lot's of flooding going on!

This week has been awesome! Last week we found this lady, Wendy. She is super awesome, we met with her like 3 times this week and she has such an amazing testimony already.  When we met her she told us she was an atheist, but after our first initial sit down she said a prayer.  As she did she really felt God's love.  It was so cool to see how 45 minutes of talking with her, her whole concept of God changed, and the spirit testified to her that it was true. Her and her 3 year old son came to church yesterday and loved it!! She set a baptismal date!

I love being able to share the restored truth that Lord has provided for us! This week I studied the talk "The First and great commandment" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Wow. if you have the chance i highly recommend reading it.  It is one of my favorite talks ever.  It talks about the 12 original apostles with Christ and there process after Christ is crucified.  Christ returns to them and asks them about the first great commandment. "To love the Lord" it is very powerful.  It helped me to look at my personal life, Do I love the Lord? How do i express it?

I love the Lord and all he has done for us, as my knowledge of the gospel broadens, i feel a bigger urge to Love the Lord, and my fellow man. The gospel really does this for us.  It teaches us to love. First the love and second our Neighbor.

I love you all! have a great week!

Elder Henderson